Polar Introduces Strapless A360 Fitness Tracker
The fitness tracker is aimed at enthusiasts who want to monitor daily activity as well as basic training.
On Tuesday, Polar introduced the Polar A360 with wrist-based heart rate monitoring, the company’s first foray into 24/7 activity trackers. The waterproof A360, which will retail for $200, features heart-rate based training guidance on a high-resolution color touchscreen. Similar to other performance-minded activity trackers such as Fitbit, the Garmin vivofit 2and others , the A360 tracks daily activity, steps, calories, workouts and sleep.
Designed for fitness enthusiasts more so than competitive athletes, the A360—which does not feature GPS functionality—is aimed at users who want to track heart rate during strength training, spinning classes, treadmill running, Pilates, yoga, dance, group exercise classes and other types of gym-related activities. The company claims it will track 24/7 activity for two weeks, including one hour of training per day, before it needs to be recharged. For users who prefer a chest strap for heart-rate monitoring over wrist-based heart rate, the A360 also pairs with Polar’s H7 heart rate monitor. It comes in a variety of colored bands—Powder White, Charcoal Black, Neon Green, Sorbet Pink and Navy Blue—and is available in small, medium and large sizes.
“The key to achieving Polar’s well-known accuracy relies on how data is recorded by the sensor, and then how it is interpreted,” says Marco Suvilaakso, Global Product Director at Polar. “We developed our own algorithm for optical heart rate monitoring and optimized the hardware design to ensure the A360 meets the same accuracy and quality standards that Polar customers have come to expect.”